OMG! ITS THE SEQUEL! YESH YESH! this is my sequel for Tricked into Meeting! aaaand, there are a few twists long the way. I like twits...I mean twists. I dont like twits. Theyre too...twitty. Anyway, welcome to A Thousand Years (Inspired by the song by Sting) well, I hope you all loved Tricked into Meeting, then your definitly gonna love this one.
A Thousand Years 1
I handed out Halloween candy to a few children when a few teenagers about 14 years old had dressed up as anime characters came to my doorstep. I instantly recognized which anime, but asked,
"What show are you guys from?" And while handing out candy, the one with red hair and black rimmed eyes said,
"Naruto. It's all about ninjas and stuff! We love it!" and with his candy filled bag, he whacked his friend over the head, who had purple face paint on his face and laughed maniacally as the one clad entirely in black chased him, leaving the girl with four spiky pigtails giving me a nervous laugh before running after them.
"Hold up you guys! Hey! Cut it out! Don't make me hit you with my fan!" She cried out, and the boy dressed as Gaara stuck out his tongue. The Temari-costumed girl grumbled about him being immature, then they all decided to chase the boy as Kankurou. I watched them, not even noticing the little children at my doorstep, waiting eagerly for candy. So, with that encounter still fresh in my mind, my heart tugged painfully at the memory of 6 years ago, on my Halloween. I Temari, Noah Gaara and Raven Kankurou. Then Aya was Sango from Inuyasha.
oOoOo
I heard movement upstairs and I quickly snapped out of my flashbacks and turned off the television. I was watching the news, but not really, and my head snapped up in the direction of the bedrooms. Down the stairs came my ruffled looking brother holding a yawning Sakura in his arms. His blonde hair was even messier than before, and his pajamas were rumpled. It had been many years since I left Suna, and baby Sakura was growing up fast. She was six years old, and could talk in complete sentences and everything. She was eager to go to school, and still loved to play with my hair.
My brother set her down and she ran over to me, jumping on my lap.
"Heya Auntie Hasame!" She said cheerfully, before taking my hair in her hands and absentmindedly began to braid it. I taught her how to, and that's all she would do with my hair.
"Good morning Sakura. How are you this morning?" I asked, forcing a smile on my lips. She grinned hugely, before her face fallling.
"I had a bad dream last night." She said quietly, and her hands stopped braiding my onyx hair. I looked at her in concern.
"Wanna tell me about it?" I offered, and I saw my brother freeze beside the fridge. He was listening too, I could tell.
"Well...I was in this big big place, bigger than this house, and there was lots and lots of sand everywhere. I was calling out for daddy and mommy, but they weren't there. So, I started to get upset, then I was calling for you, and you didn't come either. Then this scary man appeared, he was made all of sand, and kinda walked up to me." I rose an eye brow at her.
"'Kinda' walked up to you?" I repeated, and she nodded.
"Well, He almost floated. Anyway, he came at me, and all the sand was moving like a twister around me, and I woke up." She ended, and continued to play with my hair. I was silent for a while, before shooting a look at my brother. He was thinking the exact same thing as me. Maybe I shouldn't have sung the girl to sleep every night with that song.
"Were you scared?" I asked, and it was a dumb question. Of course she would be scared.
"No...Not really. I was just really surprised. He was really scary, Auntie Hasame, but...He was sort of like a daddy. Like, I get this feeling that hes watching over me, like Daddy does!" She ended on a happy note, before smiling at her father, who gave her a grin back. I was shocked at her answer.
"What...do you mean, he felt like a daddy?"
"Um...I guess he felt more like you. You're like my second mommy, even though I have a real mommy, you feel different from my mommy. And when I see him in my dreams, he feels the same way like you do. Like a second daddy" I could understand in a way of what she was saying. You have a love for your parents, and you have a love for your aunts and uncles and other relatives. So, what she was saying was that he felt like a family to her, even though he frightened her, he was a good person. I sighed, and Sakura looked at me.
"Somethin' wrong, Auntie Hasame?" She asked innocently, and I shook my head.
"No, nothing really."
oOoOo
"Hasame, sis, can you take Sakura out or something? Tamara and mom are out shopping, they'll be back tonight, and I am so tired. I think I'm coming down with something, I feel like crap. And I need to be alone." Coughed my brother, and I nodded.
"No problem. Hey Sakura!" I called, entering the kitchen. The blonde haired girl looked around at me from behind the table, who was looking for a pencil. She had this knack for drawing, and she was getting pretty good. For a six year old.
"Yeah Auntie Hasame?" she replied, before picking up a pencil and now looking for paper.
"Do you want to go out tonight? Your daddy's not feeling well, and your mommy and my mommy are going to go shopping. They'll be back tonight, but I think daddy needs to be alone." I explained, before handing her a bunch of paper. She nodded in thanks then said,
"Alright, I hope daddy'll get better soon." She said woefully, then looked up at me, her emerald eyes shining.
"Where are we going?" I thought for a minute, then grinned.
"Well...It's a surprise." I said, bending down and poking her forehead playfully. Sakura's face drooped.
"Aw no fair! Tell me please!" She moaned, and hopped excitedly up and down. I shook my head, an amused grin playing on my lips. She stopped and stared at me. I stopped smiling and looked at her in concern.
"Something wrong?" I asked, and she pointed at me.
"That smile you did. It's the same as the sand man in my dreams." Sakura said quietly, then laughed.
"That's funny! It's almost like you two have met or something!" I blinked and chuckled along with her.
"Yeah, pretty funny..."
I loaded Sakura in her booster seat in the car, before getting into my own seat and did up the seat belt then starting the car. Pulling out of the driveway, I drove off to my destination. I looked at the dashboard mounted clock. About 6 oclock. It was close to Sakura's bedtime, but she didn't have day care tomorrow, so I thought a special night of staying up late wouldn't hurt. I pulled into the store, got out and unbuckled Sakura. She hopped out and looked at the store.
"A...book store?" I nodded, and took her by the hand before leading her inside. I looked around, spotted what I was searching for and showed her the books. Selecting one, I flipped to the first page.
"You see this Sakura? I'm going to show you my favourite show and book when I was little. About fourteen years old. It's called Naruto, and it's about three kids, a blonde boy named Naruto, a black haired boy with Sasuke, and..." Showing her a large scale picture of a pink haired kunoichi, she squealed in excitement.
"Hey! Her name's Sakura! Like mine!" She said and took the book immediately from my hands. After about five minutes of her sucked into the manga, she tugged on my sleeve, getting my attention.
"Hey hey, auntie Hasame, who's this?" She pointed a stubby finger at a familiar male with red hair and black rimmed eyes, the Kenji love on the left side of his forehead.
"This...This is Gaara, Sakura. Did you know that...He controls sand?" I said inquiringly, and her green eyes widened.
"Like in my dreams..." She said in a hushed voice, and my head snapped to her.
"Is...Is that the man in your dreams?" I said quietly, and she had a look of decision on her little face. Slowly nodding, she looked at me.
"I guess...If he was made of sand, I guess." She then held the book up to my face, and saw her emerald orbs flicker between the picture of Gaara and I.
"You have the same eyes." She said in a deadpane tone, which sounded very strange coming from a six year old. I blinked, then remembered the black around my eyes from not sleeping.
"It's because he can't sleep, and neither can I. So, we have dark circles around our eyes." I explained.
"Like a panda!" She squealed in delight, and giggled, before sitting down on the ground by the window, and read the manga quietly. A few times, she would tug on my pant leg or sleeve and ask what a word mean, how it was pronounced, and what this person was doing and why.
After about an hour, Sakura ran up to the counter and thrust the book to the man behind the cash register. I walked up and gave him the correct amount of money, and he smiled as Sakura took the book, her face bright and anxious to read it again, and said,
"You have a very cute daughter there, miss. Great interest in books I see." I laughed dryly, and shook my head.
"Not my daughter. She's my niece. Her family is at home." I corrected and he sad a quiet 'oh' before handing me the reciept.
Taking Sakura back to the car, I was about to pull out of the parking lot and into the driveway when a fire engine came screaming past, heading down west, where we were heading.
"Whoa! A fire truck!" Cried out Sakura and pressed her face to the window, trying to follow where it was headed. I drove behind it, as it was heading the same way we were. Something tugged at the back of my mind, and an urgency began to rise inside of me.
"Auntie Hasame, why are we following the fire truck?" Asked Sakura innocently. She wasn't catching on as quick.
"Because...it's going the same way we are." I said softly, the red and yellow lights lighting the inside of our car every other second. I saw her confused face in my rear view mirror, and I focused back on the road. I saw smoke billowing from a house nearby. A house in our neighbourhood. People were swarming and I saw a few police cars blocling people from approaching any further. Approaching nearer to the smoke, I heard Sakura scream behind me.
"AUNTIE HASAME! OUR HOUSE!! OUR HOUSE!" She shrieked and slammed her hands on the window, tears already streaming down her porceline cheeks. I reacted quickly, and hopped out of the car, pulled out Sakura and was about to run up to it when a police officer stopped me.
"Sorry miss, but you can't-"
"My brother and sister and mother are in there!" I yelled over the roar of the fire, and the engines of the cars. Sakura was crying and holding my pants to her face, her small body shaking from sobbing. I picked her up swiftly and held her tightly, my shirt soon becoming wet from her tears. I could only watch as the fire fighters would hose out the house, drenching it with water, but the fire still blazed uncontrollably.
"If we don't get it under control, it'll spread to the other houses!" I heard a fire man say to his chief, and I stared at the house. I glanced around, found a fire hydrant close to our house. I put down Sakura, ordered her to stay here and ran to the fire hydrant. I gathered chakra to my foot, before kicking off the cap and send a power spray of water aiming at our burning house. It soaked the base, and I figured that would help with putting out the fire. Racing back to Sakura, I picked her up and watched from a distance, the heat bothering me too much. Amazingly, I was too calm for this sort of tragedy. Sakura's sobs didn't cease, and she could not look at the house, it's flames now dying down. Soon, the same police officer marched over to me, and I suspected the worse.
"Miss? Are you Hasame Chiaki?" I nodded and he looked at his note book.
"I'm very sorry to say this but..." I cut him off, nodding, saying silently I understood. He nodded gravely and walked back to the crowd. Sakura lifted her head to look at me, eyes red and puffy from crying and her face wet.
"Are mommy and daddy..." I looked down at her, no emotion on my face. Her bottom lip trembled and she burst into new sobs, burying her face into my shoulder, my black hair covering her head. Rubbing her back, I shushed her.
"We h-have n-no where t-to go n-now!" She sobbed, and I started.
"No we don't." I said, and she stopped crying to look at me. Dispite her sorrow, she looked confused. I gave her a dry grin, before telling her to hold on tight and pumped chakra to my feet, speeding to a certain house. If I remembered correctly, tomorrow night was Halloween. And in a few hours, it would be midnight.
oOoOo
I cradled the now softly whimpering but alseep Sakura in my arms as I sat on the steps of the huge house, the mark still etched into the front door. This was the last place I wanted to be, but it was somewhere to go. I glanced at my watch. Twelve minutes till midnight. I looked back at the house, and reached out to the front door, tracing the Sunagakure sign with my hand. Heaving a heavy sigh, I collected my thoughts.
It had been six years since I was last at this house. It had seemed so much longer. I wondered if my friends would recognize me...I hadn't changed all that much. My hair was definitly longer, as I liked it long. The black around my eyes was more pronounced than ever, and my silvery blue eyes...well, were the same. I was 26 years old now, and though I had a loving family around me...pardon, HAD a loving family, I was silent. I never felt true warmth in my heart, even with Sakura with me everyday. It was cold like my cool pale skin.
I glanced at my watch again. Three minutes. I tapped my foot impatiently on the stone steps. Jesus, three minutes sure drags by when your waiting.
I decided to busy myself with braiding Sakura's long hair. It had grown out long too, like mine. She was like my mini me, except...well, in many ways, she was differenent. But she liked to be considered as my 'mini me', no matter how opposite we looked. I pulled my knee up, draping my free arm across it, and staring out onto the other streets, my other hand twirling her blonde hair around my finger. Good god, I wonder what everyone will think of me when I come to see them at midnight. I glance again at my watch. I perked up when it was half a minute to go. Carefully picking up Sakura, I whispered in her ear,
"Oh Sakura-chan (she wanted to be called that after she was reading Naruto in the book store), would you like to meet someone?" She woke up slowly, and nodded sleepily, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. I waited a few seconds, before twisting the door knob of the enormous house, and it swung open noislessly. Perfect.
I stepped in and shut it silently, Sakura now waking up fully.
"Hasame...kun, where are we?" She said. She was trying to get the honorifics right with my name.
"Hasame-chan, Sakura-chan. And we are in Panda's house." I whispered to her. Her green eyes sparkled and she giggled quietly.
"Do I get to meet Panda?" She said in a hushed tone, her smile hidden behind her hand. I nodded and looked around the house. If I remembered correctly... Taking her upstairs, I put a slender finger to my lips, telling her to be very quiet. She mimicked me and giggled. I closed my eyes, trying to map out where everyone's rooms where.
"Now, Sakura-chan, we are going to see a girl. She has brown hair, and is a very nice lady. I think you will like her when you meet her. She is my age, and she has a boyfriend names Sasuke-kun, do you remember him?" I pulled out the book from my bag and flipped to a page, and pointed at the black haired Uchiha and she nodded.
"He isn't very nice to Sakura-chan." She mumbled, but I smiled.
"That's because he loves this lady in this room." I said, and pointed to the door in front of us. Setting her down, I again raised a finger to my lips. Opening the door silently, I walked in at a low crouch and masked my chakra. Appearing beside the bed, I waved to Sakura and she watched me intensely. I stared at the blanket covering the person's head, but I saw brown hair sticking out. My eyes flickered towards something besides me and the bed in the room. A crib. I smiled. Opening my mouth, I said in a serious tone,
"Well well, what have we got here? A man and a woman in a bed together? Naughty naughty, Nii-chan!" The woman in the bed jumped so much she fell out of the bed, about to scream but I clamped a hand over her mouth. She couldn't see me in the dark, but I said reassuringly for her sake (and mine)
"Don't fuss. I'm going to wake up the Uchiha." She didn't move, and I crawled onto the bed, and positioned my head over the male's ear.
"Itachi's here, Sasuke!!" I said in a loud voice, and instantly, Sasuke lept out of bed into a fighting stance, kunai ready and clad in his dark boxers. His head wipped around and when he saw Aya on the floor, and a dark figure (me) crouched on the bed, stiffling a laugh, he held the kunai to my throat.
"Who are you? What do you want." He growled, and I snickered.
"Oh, Sasuke-kuuun, don't you remember me?" I said, drawling the honorific. He looked confused in the dark, and Aya stumbled to her feet and flicked on a light. The moment she saw me she looked about ready to scream, but I slid out from under Sasuke's kunai (somehow) and slapped my hand to her mouth.
"Now, Nii-chan, you can't go ruining my plans, can you?" I said, grinning at her. I saw tears streaming down her cheeks, and I let go, and the moment I did this, she attached her self to me, wrapping arms around me tightly.
"Oh my god, Hasame!" Was all she said in a hoarse whisper, and I had to pry her off of me.
"Quiet. I want to you meet someone." I motioned for Sakura to enter the room. She stepped forward, fingers pointing together in nervousness and she looked around shyly.
"This is Sakura Chiaki. My niece." I informed Sasuke and Aya and Aya gazed at the little girl.
"You introduce yourselves, while I need to go wake up a certain...sandman." I shot a mischevious look at Sakura, who perked up and ran to me.
"No! I want to meet Panda!" She whispered anxiously, and Sasuke rose an eyebrow at me.
"She thinks we look like pandas." I said, pointing at my eyes. I took Sakura by the hand and led her silently to the said ninja's bedroom. I creeked open the door, and stepped onto the sand. If I remembered correctly...he was a moderatly deep sleeper. Doing the same crouch walk, I put my face inches from the male's and winked at Sakura before singng,
"Mr.Sandman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I've ever se-"
The red head's eyes shot open, and stared at my half grinning face. Definitly not a warm grin, mind you.
"Hello Gaara-teme. Remember me?" I hissed, my canines glinting from the moon. He sat up and sand wrapped around my throat. Why was everyone going for my throat?
"What the f-" I slapped my hand over his mouth, and he looked shocked at me.
"Mind your language please." I managed to say. His jade eyes flickered to the door, and I saw them widen in astonishment at the now frightened Sakura. She was staring at Gaara who had me by the throat, and was about to back away, when his sand fell away from me. I coughed a bit, then beckoned Sakura forward. She didn't at first, then slowly, took tentative steps towards me. Putting an arm around the child shoulders, I looked at Gaara, whos eyes were still widened slightly, staring at the girl.
"This is Sakura. Sakura, this is-"
"Panda." She said in a whisper and he frowned at the word.
"Gaara." I corrected, and whispered in her ear, but loud enough for Gaara to hear, "You can call him Panda when you're around me. I don't think he'll like it."
He snapped his head to me, and I smirked at him. She then whispered in my ear,
"I thought you said he couldn't sleep?"
"Well...he can now. You can read about it later on, or I'll explain it to you later, alright?" Gaara watched us, still frowning as we whispered in front of him.
"What the...What are you doing here?" He hissed dangerously, and I felt Sakura shrink in my arms. Holding her tighter, I answered,
"Something happened and this is like my second home." His face darkened.
"This is no longer your home. You left, remember?" His voice, dripping with venom, cut the air from my lungs.
"Of course I remember, idiot. I left because of you." I returned with hatred filling my words.
"But of course, you forget what happened when you left!?"
I stopped and stared at Gaara, his face contorted with anger. Sakura leaned to my ear again,
"Did something happen? What does Panda mean 'when you left?'"
"I'll explain to you later Sakura. Later, I promise. Just not now. Go find Sasuke and Aya, alright?" Sakura nodded and scurried away, leaving me and Gaara alone. She shut the door, and I heard her little feet pattering away.
"Who the hell was that child?! Your's?!" He said, his temper rising along with his voice.
"No! She's my niece for god's sake! Don't tell me your actually getting jealous!" I retorted, and he shot me a murderous look.
"You just come in here, in the middle of the fucking night, with a 6 year old child. Who WOULDN'T get suspicious!!" He growled, but I did not flinch.
"Listen here, I came back because her family, and mine, just died last night in a fire. And we've lost everything. I came here because it was a last resort." Snarling, I got up and turned when something grabbed my wrist. I immediately thought sand, but it was skin, not sand.
"Don't you even think of leaving now." I heard him say silkily, and I turned just in time to get his lips crashing against mine, him having slid out of bed in a split second. His hand moved up my arm to my back, bringing me closer to his body. His other arm moved around my waist, as if protecting me. I was shocked, but let him kiss me, then after a few seconds, I pushed back on his lips, returning the kiss. I swore I heard him purr in content as I wrapped my arm around his neck. I was confused, surprised, full of love and full of hate. I had just spent my entire 6 years half hating him, then thinking back to his kiss he gave me the moment I was about to leave, and his plead for me not to leave. But I betrayed him and left. I figured he'd hate me forever now, but it looked like a negative.
I pulled away for air, and I stared at him, slight confusion etched on my features.
"I never did forget you. I hate you for leaving." He growled in my ear and felt his arms tighten around my waist and shoulders. "But...I think I might be able to forgive you...just this once." Gaara said huskily before stealing another kiss and letting me go.
"I'm going to sleep...You do whatever you do." He said and went to his bed, flipping the sheets over top of him. I again was confused, but let him do what he wanted, then left the room with Aya, Sasuke, Temari, Kankurou, Noah, Raven and Sakura all at the door. I stared at them all in slight surprise, when Temari's hand shot out, grabbed my cheeks and looked at my intensly, peering at something.
"You're gonna make me swallow my tongue." I said through my squished lips, and she let go.
"Yup. This people, is a sign of someone recently been kissed." She announced and pointed to my lips. I felt them, wondering how on earth she could have guess by mearly looking at my lips, and looked up at everyone, who was grinning at me, except Sasuke, who was too cool for that. Sakura was giggling and pulled me down.
"Did you really kiss Panda?" She whispered, her little lips forming a huge smile. I grinned and gave her a curt nod. She squealed and hopped around like a rabbit.
"You're all eavesdroppers." I said in a deadpan tone, and they all laughed.
I cannot describe the greeting everyone gave me. For 6 long years, I was gone from their lives, and I come back in the middle of the night like a fox and just suddenly appear out of nowhere. Noah and Raven and Aya bombarded me with questions and when they got to the part on how Sakura (6 year old Sakura) came into the picture, I quickly said that I would explain later. I had to introduce Sakura to everyone, and explain that she was my niece, not my daughter. If I thought Noah and Raven were tall at 20, they were now towering over me. Aya was a clear foot taller than me, and apparently, while I was gone, she and Sasuke had gotten married a month before. I stared at Aya's ring, turning her hand over to see it in full detail.
"Wow. It's lovely, Aya." I congratulated her, and she grinned before earning a kiss from Sasuke on the lips.
"And I think I saw a little someone in the room with you two, correct?" At this Sasuke split into a rare grin.
"That is..." Sasuke looked at Aya, who nodded and looked at me. "That, is our three year old child, Hasame." I blinked at my best friend, and smiled softly at her. They had named their first born after me. Probably thinking they would never see me again. I glanced at Raven and Noah, and immediately noticed the flustered look about Raven. Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I grinned before turning my attention to him from across the dinner table.
"So, Raven. Anything new in your life? Anything concerning...a loved one?" I asked slyly, and he gave me a nervous smile, before clearing his throat roughly, running his fingers through his messy, yet slightly curly hair. It was the same length before I left. I felt a pang of guilt for leaving...But I had a good reason. At the time.
"Oh yeah, he does! Do you remember that girl with the dark blue kimono? Weeell, I say Raven here got lucky!" This said, Noah was rewarded with a mini fist fight with Raven, all the while a furious blush over his cheeks and nose.
"He's married too!" Noah yelled over the noise they were making. I opened my mouth slightly in astonishment. And at this, Noah raised a fist to my face after Raven had given up the fight. I looked at the fist two inches from my nose, and saw the silver band reflect off his third finger. I blinked and looked over the clenched hand to see a grinning Noah, his smile revealing his teeth.
"And who would this lucky lady be?" I asked, resting a hand on my cheek, staring at Noah with no emotion on my face. I was trying to look serious, but a smile kept on tugging at the corners of my lips.
"Her name is Kimyko, and she is a hott one!" He boasted and I snorted, before bursting out laughing.
"Aaaand, I've got a beautiful little boy too." He announced, his face beaming. I gave him a half smile. "My four year old son, Hatori." Regaining a calm facade, I looked at him in the eyes, slowly scanning over my friends.
"So, let me get this straight...you all got married...all at once?" They laughed at my pathetic joke, but Aya shook her head.
"Noah and Kimyko first, then Raven and Atari, they have a kid too by the way. Her name's Suki, three months old. Then Temari and Shikamar-"
"WHAT!?" I yelled, and whipped my head to face the now 28 year old. She nodded, a smile playing across her lips. She pointed upstairs, indicating Shikamaru was probably still asleep in bed. I snickered, and she blushed, before looking away out the darkened window.
"We too have a child. His name's Kyou, and he's going to be five next month." She said, and I nodded before snapping my attention back to Aya.
"Any other marriages that I haven't heard of? Oh wait, I haven't heard of any marriages." I said to her, and it looked like I was making her uncomfortable at the mention of my leaving. Nodding my head in apology, she continued,
"Well Kankurou is engaged to...Guess who?" I was stuped. I had no idea Kankurou liked anyone, and scanning though the lists of girls that I was familiar with from the Naruto world in my head. I had no idea.
"You'll never believe this. Hyuuga Hinata!" She squealed and for a few seconds, I blinked nonchalantly at her, then I whipped my head to face Kankurou so fast, my neck cricked. Rubbing it slowly, I stared at him.
"THE Hinata that was so shy that she could barely talk to Naruto, the Hinata who fidgeted and studdered with every word?" I asked, as if there was some other Hyuuga Hinata in the world that Kankurou was possibly engaged to. He nodded, once more, I saw a delighted grin on another face. I shook my head, mouth opened wide and whistled through my teeth.
"Wow." I said, and they all laughed."When's the wedding?"
"Two weeks from now." He announced happily. I nodded, looking at Aya through my black hair.
"So...What happened after that? I need to know EVERYTHING." I pushed.
"Then, Sasuke and I married last, and...that's it!...Sort of..." My ears perked at the sort of. Giving her a stern look, I said,
"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" She squirmed under my intense stare, demanding her silently to tell me what else had happened.
"Well...It's just...Gaara's-" She was cut off by my look of slight horror. The brunette shook her head, and wouldn't look at me in the eyes. I noticed everyone else was uncharacteristically quiet, and I whipped my head about.
"What did Gaara do? What did he do? Guys, answer me." I said harshly, but they were reluctant to tell.
"If you won't say, I'll be left to suspect the worse." I warned, and Aya finally blurted out,
"Well...He's been kinda...sort of...been going to alot of parties..and bars and stuff, go for hours, and then just...not come back home till like the next day and...I can't say he would look happy, or even remotely content. But he always smelt odd. He never paid attention to any of us, and when we would mention you, he'd get all angry, and storm out of the house, and not come back till like two days later or more." I stared at my best friend, who reddened, and her blue eyes trailed off, not looking at me at all.
So, Gaara was being a big ol' pimp while I was gone. What, did he think sleeping with other women would make him forget about me or something?
"He would be with other women...alot, always different girls. But he never looked happy with them, or even...y'know." Aya said, nibbling her bottom lip in apprehension. I knew she was waiting for my reaction. I was sort of in a shocked state. What if I was another one of his women that he played with? Was I two going to be discarded along with other bimbos that had seduced him? My eyes flickered upstairs once, not going unnoticed by anyone, but I looked back at Aya determindly. Placing the tips of my fingers together, I watched her.
"Go on." I said quietly, trying to keep my cool. This wasn't going very well for my first day back after 6 years of isolence from my friends.
Aya quickly shook her head, saying, "I don't think so." And she tilted her head down, so her bangs covered her eyes. I was left blinking at the top of her brown head. She got up and sat on the other side of Sasuke, watching me. I was stuck staring at the chair, a million thoughts flying through my head at a thousand kilometers per hour. There was crying from above, and Aya stood up, mumbling about going to get Hasame (the infant). I never heard everyone else get up after that and leave me alone, gazing at the chair, and only when Sakura touched my arm did I snap out of my glued state, looking at her. She reached up, and brushed my cheek, then took it away, peering at her hand. It was wet with tears.
"Your crying, Auntie Hasame. Are you hurt?" She asked, her small voice full of concern. At her words, I nodded, and I felt myself breakdown inside. The tears came more freely and I picked Sakura up, held her close to my chest and sobbed into her long blonde hair. Yes, I was hurting. I was hurting so bad from everything that had happened yesterday, tonight, and the past six years.
"Yes, Sakura-chan. I am hurt." I whispered into her hair.
No one would ever know how much I was hurting inside. I was torn into a thousand pieces.
xxxx
Wow. Draaamatic! But, isnt it a weird twist for an ending of this chapter? I mean, youd think everything would be all fine and dandy, now that Hasame's back, right? And especially when Gaara kissed her!! I mean, come ooon! That's a sure fire sign of a good beginning/ending, right? Right? Take another look dearies, and get a glimpse of my style of writing. Happy endings come at a price with me. And that price is reviews.